listen to the mission and I'm telling the tradition [CLOSED]

[machine_god]

Who: Jade Harley, Pink Dave, Orange Dave, Jack Noir, Eridan Ampora, John Egbert, Kanaya Maryam, Protoman
What: Second verse, same as the first; SHODAN never learns and will always try to play god.
Where: Gibson, yet another medical facility. SHODAN likes those.
When: TODAYyyyy
Notes: this is the hideousness/hiveminding/robobits reaction thread.

Comments

[memorymodus]

To say that the hug had been a little surprising was an understatement. Jade couldn't believe that not only did the cube turn into a human, it also gave her levels of affection that were rather unwarranted. But she had returned the hug anyway -- it was still the same cube that was her friend, right? Of course Jade would do what she asked. It was only fair, since she had kind of kidnapped SHODAN and held her hostage under the bed for a few weeks. So she did the errands without complaining. They were actually pretty fun! As fun as errands could be, and Jade didn't really mind helping, though she could hardly see what see needed all this stuff for.

So she showed up today at SHODAN's request, something about looking over the pieces for a project. She had pulled herself away from Dave, excusing herself for the moment with the convenient lie that she wanted to go play in the snow. Of course, no Dave would dare to follow her, and she entered the medical facility curiously, looking around.

"Hello? Are you here?"

[machine_god]

"Hello. Jade," she said, smiling gently. She could feel the nanites swirling in her blood and already she felt more right.

"I'm glad that you. Came by. T-today," she said, as always stuttering just a little. "W-would you like to. Ssseeeee what I've been. Working on. All this time?"

[memorymodus]

Jade grinned, rocking back and forth on her heels slightly. "Sure! I'd been wondering what it was, actually. I mean, that was a lot of stuff! It must be something really cool, right?" She was used to chattering; it made the situation lighter, and talking was kind of one of her specialties. SHODAN was no exception to the rule.

[machine_god]

SHODAN brought Jade over to her workbench, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"The most. Simple of what I have. Cre-cre-created are. Nanites that will allow. For a bio-synnnthet-tic neural network, linking h-humans into paral-lllell processing with. Machines."

She showed Jade a long syringe filled with silvery fluid.

It happened so fast. She moved the needle and jammed it into Jade's throat, then withdrew it and backed up a step. Within a few moments, she could feel the connection happening, feel Jade's will blossoming at the corner of her own.

She pushed, hard, weaving her will through the girl's.

It's better this way. You'll be happy this way.

It wasn't nearly the same as what Sollux went through. There was no godlike feeling of power, no drowning in a vast network, but SHODAN'S will was powerful, and her suggestions difficult to ignore - particularly as, once again, Jade's knowledge began to expand to match SHODAN'S own.

And everyone else will be happier too. There will be no war, no strife, no fighting... you simply need to

[featheryasshole]

When Jade announced her intentions of playing in the snow, it gave Dave an idea for a nice surprise. He'd follow her and join her in the snow. She'd never expect it.

When he got there, Jade was nowhere to be seen.

It was no big deal, of course. She just happened to be in some other snowy location. It was no task at all to track her wearable signal and...

Huh. Residential Zone Five? What was she doing there?

Trying to suppress his worry, he took off, following the signal.

[machine_god]

She was waiting for Davesprite. Betrayer. Seeker of flesh. She'd turn him back, make him hers again...

So she waited. Either Jade would call him or he'd come on his own. Either way. In her hands she had a pistol, modified to shoot darts filled with nanites. He'd be hers again. He had to be.

[featheryasshole]

He was near now, but there was still no sign of Jade, nor any indication what she might be doing here. He was starting to consider just messaging her, even if it meant ruinin the surprise.

Then again, he was already close. Fuck, what was she doing in a medical facility? Was she hurt?

Now genuinely worried for her, he rushed inside.

[machine_god]

And that was her cue.

She limped out into the hallway, leaning on her cane, and took the shot.

Thwip.

Straight at the back of his neck. If she was lucky, he'd be caught off guard. Unlucky...

Well, she still had a few more shots.

[jadeblooded]

Jaedri had been in Gibson looking for Jade. What she'd do when she found her, she wasn't entirely sure. Maybe they'd go back to Zone 16 and play in the snow some more, maybe they'd play with Bec. Honestly, she kinda wanted to see if Jade wouldn't mind looking for a job on the board with her and then doing that for some credits they could share. But whatever, she'd decide that when she found her

[machine_god]

She'd been ready for unwanted intruders. A few cleaning drones patrolled the outskirts, and she had connected two or three cameras and proximity alarms. She'd also partitioned it this time; Jade and Davesprite wouldn't get the alerts unless SHODAN let them.

Someone was coming.

With a few quick commands, she launched security drones, commanding them to be quiet and, above all, efficient. They began to hone in on the intruder.

[jadeblooded]

Quiet, they were. It turned out to be incredibly lucky that Jaedri was wearing her compu-goggles at the time, or she never would've noticed anything was even coming close to her.

"Whuh?" She took off the goggles and looked around, noticing that all of a sudden, she was very close to being surrounded. "Uh...where did these come from....?" She wondered aloud, her decaptchaloguing finger already twitching as she prepared to either A) Pull out a weapon, or B) Start absconding.

[machine_god]

It took only a thought to tell them to open fire.

She felt no remorse; she didn't care that she was trying to murder a child. This one was currently useless to her, and she'd be back soon via teleporter. Not her problem.

[sfx_balls]

It didn't take much to get Jack to show up. As soon as he read "help," "danger," and "pink dave" in bright green font he was jumping over traps and making a beeline for the nearest teleporter. The message was slightly suspicious, sure (like why didn't she just call one of her less Dave-biased friends first, and... how was she texting him while being assaulted by bullshit psychic hands??), but Jack had plenty of reasons not to give a shit about that. Getting his shot at revenge was more than enough to make him ignore those minor discrepancies.

Besides, it was from Jade. Why the hell would she lie about something like that?

He was practically kicking doors down when he arrived at the medical facility, gripping his gun in one hand with his specialized crossbow slung over his shoulder, and there were enough knives hidden on his body to kill a mammoth.

Fuck yes, he was ready for this. All he needed now was an ice cold one-liner for when he found Dave.

[machine_god]

Ah. Jack Noir.

She'd thought about how to approach this. A needle to the neck might work, but also might anger him; sending Jade or Davesprite after him... the latter, likely a poor plan.

But there was a third option she gleaned from Jade and Davesprite's knowledge.

She limped into the hallway.

"I a-apolllogize for the. Deception. Mr. Noiiiir," she said, leaning on her brace and cane. "But Dave is not here."

She held up a hand, bidding him to wait one damn moment.

"But I. Re-re-require your. Assissstance. In capturing him. J-jade is. Safe. She messssaged you so that I might. Gain your. Att-ttention. As you are more likely to. Listen to her than to. Me."

"I n-neeeed you to bring me the Pink Dave. Alive, p-please. But. Incapacitated. Thoroughly. I will. Give you the toooools to do this."

"Are you. Willing?"

[sfx_balls]

Movement-- Jack tensed up, gun pointed forward, ready to fire like a fucking madman the second he caught a glimpse of anything pink. But it wasn't Dave, or any of the Daves, or Jade. It was some woman he'd never seen before, with a limp and a fucking awful speech impediment. He lowered his gun slightly.

This was also suspicious. She wanted Dave? Why the fuck? And where was Jade, and why did she need him to get Dave here? And who the fuck was this lady anyway? This whole deal reeked of ulterior motives, there was no way it could be that simple.

But it was still too sweet to just ignore-- tools to take out Dave, a chance to beat the ever loving shit out of Dave and maybe even stay in Jade's good graces. Everything he ever wanted could be just within his reach.

"And what's in it for you?"

[machine_god]

"I. Require him. For my ex-xxxxperimentssss. He'll be. Well contained, I assssure you," she said.

[tempus_mutantur]

'We need to talk' was rarely a precursor to anything good, especially when it came to relationshit. Nevertheless, Dave was in pretty high spirits after receiving Jade's message. He hadn't been feeling so hot since she absconded with Orange the other day and that nasty-ass psuedo-flu hadn't made shit any better. But he was over it and this message made it seem like he still had a chance.

The voice in his head wasn't too optimistic, but when was it ever? Dave ignored the bitter whispers as he cautiously entered a teleporter (those fuckers still couldn't be trusted) and popped out in the designated meeting place. 'Nother huge abandoned city. Kind of a weird choice, but maybe she just wanted total seclusion? Whatever, he wasn't about to nitpick.

Dave stuck his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying and kind of failing to look totally chill. Not so easy when your hopeometer was dialed up to fucking eleven.

[sfx_balls]

Jade wasn't coming, but someone else was already here.

Jack didn't waste any time. The moment Dave stepped into his firing range, Jack stepped out from behind the teleporter, crossbow loaded and level with his target. Couldn't give the kid a chance to react, to dodge or try to deflect the hit-- he'd save the puns for later.

With a click and a BANG, the spiked ball slammed into pink Dave's back, shredding his shirt and digging deep into his flesh.

[tempus_mutantur]

By the time Dave sensed the movement behind him it was already too late. He didn't even have enough time to attempt a block. Considering the speed of his rays, that was really saying something. There was something barbed embedded in his back and the force of the shot was more than enough to bowl him over, knocking him facefirst into the pavement with a startled cry of pain.

Whatever it was it fucking hurt, each barb sending jolts of agony up his spine. And there was... something else. He'd been injected with a lot of drugs before but this? This felt new. And it freaked him the fuck out.

Once the shock faded substantially Dave shakily propped himself onto his side and shot a glare at his attacker. And once he saw who it actually was his expression twisted into a pained sort of hatred. Not even bothering to conceal it.

"Th-the fuck did you -- hit me with --" he panted, trying to grab at it with an invisible hand. When none came out, his panic level rose a notch or twelve.

[sfx_balls]

Jack just grinned, casually walking over to the kid. With the rays taken care of, he no longer had to give a shit about keeping his distance-- he strode right past the 1.3 meter mark, looming over the wounded kid. A part of him was screaming no dave no please don't hurt him!!! but he was able to push it back, for now. There were more important matters to attend to.

"Sorry, kid, but I've gotta take you with me." His voice was disturbingly calm, his usual anger almost completely drained away. There was no need to be angry, because soon they'd all be together and there would be no more fighting. Everything would be better.

Jack pulled out a gun from inside his jacket, firing straight into Dave's arm at point-blank range. He won't need it anyway, we'll make him a better one.